Tale of the Nine-Tailed

Lee Dong Wook and Kim Bum shine but the romance falls flat

I enjoyed watching tale of the nine-tailed. but there were parts where it fell flat. I loved the chemistry between the brothers there story developed really well and we got to see them bond throughout the drama. my favorite scene was when they were fighting the ah gwi in the forest, the choreography and the script was so beautiful and emotional. But the love story between Ji ah and Lee Yeon felt disengenuine in some parts, the strong female lead slowly broke and by the end she felt like a weak side character. I thought the scene at the beach was beautiful but the ending was lackluster and almost felt like a side story. I'm currently watching season 2 although a little confused at ep 1 I feel it will strengthen Lee Yeon and Lee Rangs relationship. I think overall this drama was a fun watch and there were times i felt the tension and was at the edge of my seat. I recommend this drama for anyone that enjoys a nice action packed modern fairlytale and Lee Dong Wooks amazing acting.

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One of my all time favourites ♡

As a fan of fantasy and folklore, this drama has been one of the best shows I've watched. If you love fantasy just like me, this one has a mix of modernity with it too. Undoubtedly, one of the best shows of this genre that you'll come across in the K-Drama world. Whether it's the story or the cast, it is definitely an ace.

The storyline is really well paced. Never do you feel bored or dragged. In fact, I'd even say it keeps you on your toes from time to time, making you click the next episode almost as reflex. It has the right number of episodes. And the right number of characters, not too many, not too less. The story itself includes a lot of traditional elements, giving insight to Korean folk tales and beliefs. But it's definitely not too much to the point where you are confused. With jumpscares and a bit of horror (can't exactly say, but I am really not good with horror T_T), it does feel wholesome. Production wise too, the landscapes and effects were well done. Another masterpiece by Studio Dragon.

I think the strongest point of this drama is its cast. The gumiho Lee Yeon played by Lee Dongwook is the best gumiho portrayal I've ever seen. My personal fav hehe. The orange hair, red umbrella turning to sword, carefree, laid back, playful, childish personality but not even once does it overshadow the strong presence and aura of Lee Yeon. In fact, I think it's because he has a certain level of power, the smug personality becomes a charm rather than show off. The orange eyes....Lord! Whoever decided that must be there, bless you! That character is just so well written, no argument. And Lee Dongwook really really did it well. It's just his eyes! He's one of those actors whose eyes speak to the audience's heart. I'm pretty sure many will agree that his acting resulted in a lot of people swooning over someone double their age 😁😁 Now if you think the male lead is the best part, you are so very wrong. Nam Jiah played by Jo Boah is a very notable character. She is strong, mature, resilient and extremely courageous. Unshaken by the creepy stuff she encounters, always seeking the truth. But you clearly see the young girl who lost her parents and had to look after herself since childhood. A real good balance between feminine and masculine characteristics. Her acting indeed deserves a round of applause. Together, they are an awesome power couple with a good chemistry. I am lowkey sad she doesn't have a main role in the second season 😭 Now...Lee Rang. The story between the male and female lead is definitely great in itself, how a fox spirit waited for a 1000 years for his lover and how fate always tries to pull them apart. But this was my personal favorite relationship of the drama. The bond between the brothers. The elder who has to be responsible yet loves his brother too much to ever even dream of harming him. And the younger one who loved and admired his brother so much that when he misunderstands Lee Yeon, the hate becomes as deep as his love. For much of the show, you feel he's just being a brat, causing trouble and being the gone case, psycho brother of the main lead. But once you hear his backstory, see his interaction with other characters and the softness he still carries, you realise how precious of a little brother he is. Kim Beom plays Lee Rang so well. He is as irritating as he is a gem. The bickering between the siblings, the admiration of Lee Rang for Lee Yeon and the love for his younger one in the eyes of the older, it really flows out of the screen and right into our hearts. So when Rang has to kill Yeon, that dialogue "Rang-a", it never stops echoing in my mind. And when Rang decides to sacrifice himself for his brother, and every single scene following that, my God! I've cried buckets. Still do. One of the most heartwrenching scenes I've witnessed. Never ever getting over it 😭

Next, the people at Samdocheon. My next favs for sure. The bossy TaIuipa and her obedient yet strong husband Hyunuiong are the cutest couple of all. The bickering between Lee Yeon and his 'Halmom', adorable indeed >_< And definitely Goo Shin-joo the vet and his ferocious love Ki Yu-ri are another pair of dom female-soft male trope. Again, adorable ^_^ !!! And the kiddo, Kim Soo-oh, reincarnation of Lee Rang's puppy; that child is literally a puppy personified, with the bob cut and runny nose. So cute!!!!! Sending love to Jung Si-yul! The villain was definitely a strong one, well done by Lee Taeri. And Eom Hyoseop as the TVC president, he was a pain in the neck! Each character has such good backstories and developments, they are all main characters themselves. And I feel, they all got a good ending for themselves (not Lee Rang though ㅠㅡㅠ).

Next comes the music. From the intro to the instruments, I loved every piece so much! And this drama really needs that extra punch through music throughout it's length, whether it's to give that eerie effect or emotional pang. And it did exactly what was needed.

I have already watched it twice and I could still watch it again.
The whole plot and especially the characters were very well written by Han Woo-ri. Thank you so much for this wonderful story! Overall, it's a really good watch, not much about life or something you can learn or relate to, but well, the drama is the tale of a nine tailed, not yours and mine! 😁

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A nice fantasy drama with a touch of mystery

This drama was an okay watch in my opinion. It was not anything brilliant or showstopping, but it was watchable and even somewhat entertaining.

The characters were good, even though the main villain seriously annoyed the frick out of me lol. The actors did all a very good job, it was a great cast. However, I didn't get a very strong emotional connection for the characters. Sometimes I get very attached to drama characters, so much so that I'll cry when they do. But that didn't happen for me in this drama, for some reason I had a harder time really connecting with the characters.

This drama had its pros and cons. I liked the gumiho and fantasy/folklore theme a lot, and that there were different types of gumihos. I also liked the mystery in this drama, and most of the main characters were nice. There was some great character development for some of the characters as well, which I liked a lot. It was also cool to see both modern Korea and some historical aspects in this. To add, I often love "star crossed/fated lovers" theme in dramas, especially in a fantasy setting like this. I also loved that NELL's Kim Jong Hwan sang one of the OST songs since I love NELL and their music :D

The cons in my opinion would be that the villain was so annoying that I almost got frustrated with the entire drama because of him. To add, most of the fighting scenes were very silly-looking because they kind of fast forwarded them to make it look like the actors were moving really fast, and the characters didn't really make me Feel Things. (Except for Rang and his "found family", they were adorable). The plot was also a liiiiittle bit confusing at times, but that may just be me.

Overall, it's a nice drama, and if you like fantasy and mystery I'd probably recommend it to you. ^^

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Great Concept, But Something's Missing

This drama really caught my interest with its fascinating concept. It's a fantasy show that combines ancient myths about a magical nine-tailed fox with modern life stories. I was excited about the idea of a mythical creature trying to live in the human world and facing various challenges – it seemed unique and promising.

However, as I watched it, I felt like it didn't quite hit the mark. It seemed like something important was missing. Maybe the characters weren't as well-developed as they could have been, or the story didn't come together perfectly. While the show has great visual effects and an interesting fantasy aspect, I found it hard to connect with the characters and what they were feeling. This left me wishing that the show had explored its intriguing ideas more deeply.

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Great Watch

I started to watch this for Lee Dong Wook (LDW) and Kim Bum (KB), after reading couple of reviews...I was NOT disappointed. The main cast and support cast did a brilliant job - special mention LDW & Kim Bum's acting ..the last episode was really an emotional rollercoaster with such a twist at the very last scene - I absolutely loved it ...kudos to the writers & director too.

Grant it the first few episodes were a bit slow, but the story really picks up after that - for some one whose not in to this genre of stories - I really found this drama interesting..so happy we will get a S 2 & S3...I hope LDW-KB continue their lovable characters & continue being brothers in the following seasons. The female lead Jo Bo Ah too did a great job, the chemistry between LDW & her was soft...there were some sweet, soft romantic kisses and fluffy moments between them.

for me there are couple of highlights in the drama series: firstly the phone message from LDW to KB and later from KB to LDW is sure to make you emotional - you totally feel for the brothers... secondly how LDW and his love got united at the end...I am a big supporter for happy endings....

I would recommend this drama.

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That ending was really...

Overall this drama was OKAY. It had great actors and a good story to work with. BUT honestly I think this drama could've been better with a fewer episodes. The start was great, the ending was...ok, but the middle part had a lot of "filler" moments.

For a time, this drama got me hooked but after a few episodes I started wanting to see the end soon.

The biggest thing that bothered me throughout this drama was actually the ending. I mean come on. I so did not get why Lee Yeon needed to lie to Jia re him being reincarnated as a human. Because eventually, Jia WILL find out. Jia will start looking gray and old while Lee Yeon will still look the same.

I think a sad ending - wherein Lee Yeon dies then Lee Rang will sacrifice himself to make sure Lee Yeon gets reincarnated. Then when Jia dies, she and Lee Yeon will reunite in their next life - is a better ending than the one they gave. Because in the ending that they made, yes it was a happy ending BUT was it really realistic? so what will happen when Jia dies? Lee Yeon will wait and search for her again? So it's the same cycle?

Anyhow, overall it was okay. I did LOVE seeing the casts. They had a good chemistry together.

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Started watching for LDW and KR and fell in more love with both of them!

I have not watched any drama related to this kind of folklore so it was interesting story for me but felt like lot of things were happening and a little bit disconnected..
Plague in the show with all people dying reminded me of COVID 19 hahah also the negative character is not intimidating at all and I never felt like he is THE IMUGI where people should fear or whatever..
This show also made me think about risk-benefit and cost effectiveness of real life situations and have internal debate related to real life like one person decides one person is important and everyone else gets sacrificed so how is that fair? But also who am I to decide if the sacrifice was okay or not if as a adult they are okay with sacrifice but also what about all the people who did not have the choice?

I have always liked LDW and KR and their acting made me fall in love with them more.
As I like both of the actors and also never watching nine-tail fox folklore made me stick to this drama till the end!

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It's okay. Could be so much better!

It's an enjoyable ride but by the end of it has very low chances of becoming an all time favorite. it lacks something.
Started off great. I wished it had more urban legend stories, because as soon as imoogi was active again the story stopped having that element. idk... the last two eps felt both rushed and, in a lot of parts, absurd.

The bad guy was never scary and we always knew he would never win... and that's a problem.
The ending was not that great. The whole last episode didn't make any sense. Definitely there's no way you can get reincarnated that fast into an adult, also the brother getting reincarnated so fast as well. idk... didn't make sense to me.
It's true that it was the kind of the final the audience wanted but... meh.

Someone had a great explanation for the last scene and i will add smt else later:

«There are several ways in which gumihos can become human. The one concerning the ending of Tale of the Nine Tailed is this one: Over a period of 100 days (the period varies according to legends), the gumiho cannot be detected as a gumiho by their significant other. In the case of Yeon, it is Ji-ah. If we assume that for 100 days, Ji-ah did not discover Yeon’s truth, it would be easy for him to transform into a human.
Infact, Yeon was on the verge of giving away his real identity as a gumiho when he let out that Ji-ah and he is going to have daughter. Remember the introduction in episode 1? It was mentioned that gumihos has the “ability to see miles ahead”. Yeon definitely had the powers!
Cut to Yeon’s face-off with the Spirit of Misfortune. Yeon took advantage of his magical powers to defeat The Spirit of Misfortune, thereby eliminating any chance of Ji-ah ever finding out his truth. I think that proved to be a boon and he was able to completely transform into a human.» @ cinedope.com

This would explain a lot. Would explain how he managed to comeback looking exactly the same, and with his memories intact. You are not suppose to have memories from previous lives, so the fact that he has it still, means he is still the same Yeon. Would make sense that he has a sort of 100 days to run low until he actually becomes human. The fact that the new "baby" Rang doesn't remember Yeon means he is in a new life, but Yeon is on his old one still. He also went to see Grandma without any of them opening the gates for him, they were surprised to see him, so he was still able to enter that space without anyone opening the door. Wished the writers would've focus more in explaining these little details, because most people will not understand these nuances and just assume it's a typical nonsense kdrama ending to make everyone happy.

Another take would be: they want a chance to make a season 2, and we are all thinking too much.

Either way, as a whole the story felt all over the place.
As usual i liked the brothers story way more than the romance one, but that's my personal preference.
It was okay. I don't regret watching it and i don't think it was a bad kdrama... just all over the place.

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An ending that was an option

So how should I start this? First of all, I watched this drama in 3 days and I must say that it's possible. The reason for those ratings is multiple stuff. 1. I was more interested in the second lead couple than the main one, IDK what it was but it just lacked something that would give it the vibe,2. I didn't like Lee Ryung's death. Now about this topic, I don't like unnecessary deaths because it just makes it hard to watch. I came into this drama with some spoilers and one of those was his death but when he was alive 15 episodes I was thinking that I just remembered it wrong, but unfortunately, I didn't.3.The whole Imoogi thing didn't have much explanation for it even tho was one of the main drama concepts. I feel like it deserves the ratings it has but I don't think that it's one of my favorite dramas

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